Destruction in Paradise: Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Archa National Park Under Siege

“Enormous, wild, fascinating. I first saw Ala-Archa in winter. It was blanketed in snow, unreachable. And I stayed. I gave it my heart. That was 25 years ago, and I’ve never stopped admiring it.”

Sitting on a sun-drenched ridge 3,000 meters above sea level, legendary Kyrgyz mountaineer Aleksei Pototsky squints into the wind. Below him, the hum of excavators fills the valley. Tree trunks crash to the ground; dust spirals into the air. A new foundation is being dug – right in a meadow where rare tulips like Tulipa greigii and Tulipa ferganica used to bloom.

“Yes, unfortunately Ala-Archa is changing. More people, more trash,” Pototsky sighs, pointing to the machines below. His voice trails off. Like many, he remembers a different Ala-Archa. “I understand that much is changing – times, people, and those in power – but what about the mountains? Can we keep them untouched, just as they are?”

We talked for half an hour, and then he hoisted a 30 kg backpack and began his climb back home, to the heights.

On the southern edge of Bishkek, where city traffic gives way to the dramatic rise of the Tian Shan mountains, lies Ala-Archa National Park – one of Kyrgyzstan’s most cherished natural reserves. Just 40 kilometers from the capital, the park has long served as a refuge for wildlife and a spiritual escape for alpinists, scientists, and nature lovers.

But its protected status now faces unprecedented pressure, as a wave of illegal construction projects transforms the landscape and threatens the fragile mountain ecosystems.

Today, a three-story hotel, a panoramic restaurant covering 675 square meters, and 20 A-frame cabins are under construction in the upper part of the park, along with a modern swimming pool designed for year-round use and other facilities. In addition, mountain slopes are being excavated – century-old firs cut down and trails destroyed – to make way for new roads and the installation of funiculars.

All of this is being carried out with the support and oversight of the Kyrgyz president’s office, as the national park falls directly under its jurisdiction.

The construction of the A-frame houses, cafes, roads, and funiculars in Ala-Archa National Park violates multiple Kyrgyz laws protecting natural areas, an environmental lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns of potential retaliation, told The Diplomat.

These laws include the Law on Specially Protected Natural Territories, which forbids capital construction unrelated to conservation, scientific research, or eco-tourism, as well as unauthorized tree cutting and habitat disruption. The Environmental Code requires environmental impact assessments and public consultations for such projects, none of which has been conducted. The Law on Wildlife prohibits actions harming habitats of protected species like snow leopards and golden eagles, yet deforestation and increased human activity are arguably destroying these habitats. The Forest Code bans unauthorized tree cutting, but century-old firs have been felled without proper approvals. And the Law on Subsoil raises concerns over disrupted hydrology from infrastructure work affecting water resources.

In sum, the activities observed in the park flagrantly breach the legal frameworks designed to protect Ala-Archa’s unique ecosystem and threaten its long-term conservation.

Over the course of a month, all of The Diplomat’s attempts to reach the park administration – via official contacts, social media, and personal phone numbers listed on the park’s website – were unsuccessful.

Simple questions such as “What facilities are being built?” went unanswered.